Chinlestegophis

Chinlestegophis; Temporal range: Late Triassic,
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	†Temnospondyli
Suborder:	†Stereospondyli
Superfamily:	†Metoposauroidea?
Genus:	†Chinlestegophis; Pardo et al., 2017
Binomial name
	†Chinlestegophis jenkinsi; Pardo et al., 2017

Chinlestegophis is a diminutive Late Triassic stereospondyl that has been interpreted as a putative stem caecilian, a living group of legless burrowing amphibians.^[1] If Chinlestegophis is indeed both an advanced stereospondyl and a relative of caecilians, this means that stereospondyls (in the form of caecilians) survived to the present day; historically the group was thought to have gone extinct by the early Cretaceous.^[2] Chinlestegophis jenkinsi, the type and only species, is known from two partial skulls discovered in the Chinle Formation in Colorado.

^ Pardo, Jason D.; Small, Bryan J.; Huttenlocker, Adam K. (2017-07-03). "Stem caecilian from the Triassic of Colorado sheds light on the origins of Lissamphibia". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (27): E5389–E5395. doi:10.1073/pnas.1706752114. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 5502650. PMID 28630337.
^ Warren, Anne; Rich, Thomas H.; Vickers-Rich, Patricia (1997). "The last labyrinthodonts". Palaeontographica Abteilung A. 247: 1–24.

[:0-1] Pardo, Jason D.; Small, Bryan J.; Huttenlocker, Adam K. (2017-07-03). "Stem caecilian from the Triassic of Colorado sheds light on the origins of Lissamphibia". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (27): E5389–E5395. doi:10.1073/pnas.1706752114. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 5502650. PMID 28630337.

[2] Warren, Anne; Rich, Thomas H.; Vickers-Rich, Patricia (1997). "The last labyrinthodonts". Palaeontographica Abteilung A. 247: 1–24.

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